COP - Conference of the Parties. Essentially the supreme body of the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC); meets annually.

CMP - Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to
the Kyoto Protocol. The
Protocol's top body; meets annually at the same time as the COP.

AWG-KP - One of two major negotiating groups. The AWG-KP
focuses on negotiating further legally-binding commitments for Annex I Parties beyond 2012. Attended
by the 37 industrialised Annex I countries, plus other Parties to the Protocol and Parties to the Convention who
did not ratify Kyoto but may attend as observers.

AWG-LCA - established in Bali in 2007 to conduct negotiations
on a strengthened international deal on climate change, which was to be concluded at COP 15 in Copenhagen in 2009.
The work of the AWG-LCA has been extended three times by a year since COP 15. Governments agreed in 2011 in Durban
that the group would conclude its work in Doha.

AWG-ADP - The objective of the AWG-ADP is to negotiate a global climate
change agreement to be adopted by 2015 and to enter into force from 2020, and how to raise current inadequate
global ambition to deal with climate change, including cutting greenhouse gas emissions fast enough so that the
world has chance of staying below the agreed maximum 2 degree Celsius temperature rise.

SBSTA - Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological
Advice. Serves as a link between information and assessments provided by expert sources (such as the IPCC, responsible for compiling the world's government-approved science) and the COP,
which focuses on setting policy.

SBI - Subsidiary Body for Implementation. The SBI makes
recommendations on policy and implementation issues to the COP and, if requested, to other bodies.

PLENARY - A formal meeting of the entire COP, CMP or one of its subsidiary bodies.

PARTY - A Party in the international negotiating context is either a country or a regional economic integration
organisation. There is only one Party which is not a country in the UNFCCC context, and that is the European Union.
The 27 members of the European Union meet to agree on common negotiating positions. The country that holds the EU
Presidency – a position that rotates every six months – then speaks for the European Union and its 27
member states. As a regional economic integration organization, the European Union itself can be, and is, a Party
to the Convention. However, it does not have a separate vote from its members. The host government expects around
17 thousand people to attend COP18. Around half of these are delegates of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol, so from 194 States plus the European Union.

MEETINGS - Major bodies such as the COP and CMP (see glossary), chaired by senior government figures, meet in the
large conference halls. Alongside these major meetings, there are a plethora of other negotiating sessions
organised in such a way that wherever possible delegations from individual countries can organise their teams to
attend without clashing timetables in what is a demanding schedule. These range from groups (often called informal
or contact groups) focusing on issues from the CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) to the Adaptation Fund and REDD.
These negotiating/contact groups then feed back to plenaries. The Chairs and their teams consolidate all views
expressed from the floor into negotiating texts which are then fed back to the delegations.

NGOs - NGOs are non-governmental
organisations. They can for example represent business (BINGOs), or environmental organisations (ENGOs). Special
rules have been developed over time under the Convention defining what role NGOs can play, what sessions they can
attend, whether they can make submissions and so on. Details of these are available on the UNFCCC website. Other
NGOs seek to track the delegations and to report on the process.

SIDE EVENTS AND
EXHIBITS - Alongside the formal negotiations and informal talks are numerous side events and exhibits. The list
of side events is published daily, shown on the CCTV monitors and available on the UNFCCC website. [top]

2) HOW WILL COP 18 WORK?

A COP is a hybrid. It is principally a negotiating forum. But it is also a technical conference where expert bodies
under the Convention debate methodological issues relating to climate science and the climate process, which in
turn form the basis for political decision-making. At the same time it is part climate change expert meeting with a
range of side events and exhibits, attracting key members from governments and civil society who professionally
deal with climate change on a regular basis. The COP is, however, first and foremost the place where the Parties to
the UNFCCC make decisions, often pre-prepared in the months and weeks of preceding talks and negotiations.

3) WHERE IS THE BULK OF THE POLITICAL ACTION AND IN WHICH NEGOTIATING GROUPS ARE
DECISIONS FINALLY MADE?

COP (Conference of the Parties,195 Parties)

COP/CMP (COP serving as meeting to the Kyoto Protocol -193 Parties)

AWG-KP (founded 2005, 194 Parties)

AWG-ADP (founded in 2011, 195 Parties)

AWG-LCA (founded 2007, 195 Parties)

SBSTA and associated Contact/Expert Groups

SBI and associated Contact/Expert Groups
(See above for the definitions)

Note: It will be the COP and CMP that actually adopt decisions.

4) WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF SESSIONS AND EVENTS AT A COP AND WHICH ARE OPEN
TO JOURNALISTS?

Opening ceremonies – first day of the conference and first day of the high-level segment (open)

6) WHAT IS WORTH COVERING?Whilst the opening ceremonies and the
high-level segment at the end of the conference attract high-level government participation, newsworthy events take
place on a daily basis. Such events are press briefings (up to fourteen on a single day) for example on the part of
governments, environmental organisations and UN bodies. These media briefings give an update on the status of the
negotiations, are used to announce key decisions, lay out negotiating positions to the public and launch newsworthy
studies which relate to the negotiations. The UN Climate Change Secretariat briefs the press during the most
intense phase of the negotiations (usually daily in the second week of the COP and three or four times during the
first week). In addition, press releases will be issued by the UNFCCC and other organisations.

Side-events have the potential to generate interesting news stories, are not only given by multilateral
organisations, governments and NGOs, but for example academia and industry associations. As far as the political
proceedings of the COP/CMP are concerned, it should be noted that concluding negotiations usually go well into the
night of the final day of the conference. The Saturday of the first week of the COP is a regular working day. The
Sunday of the first week is often used for field trips organised by NGOs and/or the host government. The conference
venue is usually closed on the Sunday of the first week.

7) WHAT ARE THE COP 18 HIGHLIGHTS?

Monday,
26 November

Opening ceremonies, from 10:00 a.m.

Tuesday,
4 December

Opening ceremony of the high-level segment of COP 18 and CMP 8 with a high-level UN official, heads of State
and government, ministers

Friday,
7 December

Closing plenaries (adoption of decisions). Note: the closing plenary can continue into the early or late
morning of 8 December

8) WHAT ARE THE MAIN COUNTRY NEGOTIATING GROUPINGS?

Countries with similar interests and viewpoints tend to negotiate in groups. This enables a single country to speak
on behalf of a wider coalition of countries. This helps save negotiating time. The positions of the respective
groups are jointly developed in meetings before and during the COP. Further information on Party Groupings is on the
UNFCCC website.

Maindeveloping countries ("non-Annex I") negotiating groups:

AOSIS. The Alliance of Small Island States and low-lying countries
sharing similar developmental and environmental concerns. AOSIS has a membership of 42 States and observers.

African Group. with 53 members

G-77 and China. has 132 members and the chairmanship rotates on a
regional basis (between Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean) and is held for one year in all the
Chapters. The chair will often speak for the whole group including China if China was present, but where the
sub-members such as Least Developed Countries[1] (LDCs) or
AOSIS have different positions, they will speak separately.

Main industrialized country ("Annex I") negotiating groups

Umbrella group: Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, the Russian Federation, Ukraine and the United
States

The secretariat, together with the Integrated Sustainable PaperSmart Services (ISPS) secretariat, is adopting the
United Nations PaperSmart services for COP 18/CMP 8. Pre-session and in-session official documentation for the
Conference will be issued digitally through the ISPS portal PaperSmart.un.org, flash drives, etc. in the six official United Nations languages.
Delegates/participants are encouraged to use their laptops/mobile devices, including tablets, to view and/or
download Conference documentation.

UNFCCC official documents, statements and the Daily Programme will be available through PaperSmart.

10) HOW DO I GET ACCREDITATION?

Accreditation is done through the online media accreditation and
registration system. This system allows each individual seeking media accreditation to create a personal
account, enter personal data and upload required documentation. Applicants can check the status of their requests
online by utilizing the login information received when the profile is created. Online accreditation is now the
official and only channel to obtain registration for the media for a conference or event. The deadline for
application is 21 November 2012.

Media accreditation for UNFCCC conferences is strictly reserved for members of the press (print, photo, radio, TV,
film, news agencies and online media) who represent a bona fide media organization (formally registered as a media
organization in a country recognized by the United Nations General Assembly). Accreditation will only be given on
proof of a track record of reporting for media organizations on international affairs, specifically climate change.